Apple, not Intel, filed for Thunderbolt trademark

Counter to early indications that Intel already owned the trademark for the Thunderbolt high-speed I/O technology, recently discovered applications with the U.S. and Canadian trademark offices reveal that Apple has filed for the mark.

Apple has leveraged a November 2010 trademark application for the Thunderbolt term in Jamaica to advance claims with the U.S Patent & Trademark Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, MacNN reported on Wednesday.

According to the USPTO, Apple filed an application on May 6, 2011 for a standard character mark that would associate Thunderbolt with a variety of computer- and data-related functions, such as computer peripheral devices, cables, connectors and digital and audio devices.

The move comes as a surprise, as several documents, including the packaging for the early 2011 Thunderbolt MacBook Pros, state that Thunderbolt is a registered trademark of Intel.

In fact, Intel itself lists Thunderbolt on its Trademark Information page. However, MacNN notes that a quick search of U.S. and Canadian records failed to turn up any Intel claims to the mark.

Intel had originally codenamed the technology "Light Peak," eventually deciding on the name Thunderbolt during the development process. Apple's reported contributions to the project include the Mini DisplayPort standard and an "electrical solution" that saw the optical cables changed to copper in order to provide power.

Prior to the official unveiling of the technology, speculation arose that Thunderbolt was Apple's name for the technology, similar to an earlier decision by the company to brand the IEEE 1394 technology as "FireWire."

Rumors emerged earlier this week that Sony plans to implement Thunderbolt in the form of a Type-A USB jack.

HP indicated on Tuesday that it had looked into Thunderbolt, but hadn't "found a value proposition yet." The PC maker has decided to stick with Intel's USB 3.0 specification instead. Intel stated last month its belief that USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt will be "complementary" to each other.

Wasn't Intel going to call it Lightpeak? Isn't this the 2nd time Apple has picked up Intel's technology and ran with it and made it into a standard? Before the iMac, USB was circling the drain. About a year before the iMac was introduced Comdex was still around. They had a USB pavilion which was hardly visited by attendees. There were about 8 - 10 companies that were showing off USB hubs. I never saw anything develop until the iMac was announced.

What likely happened here is that Intel intended to file, but never did. Apple noticed that and filed instead so that the name would remain with them. This happens all the time. I don't know much about Intel's legal department, but if they wanted this mark, someone is now looking for a job.

Zeus and Thor have been battling that one out in the celestial courts for milennia, perhaps this is one of those "games of the gods" where they get the little clay voodoo dolls and let them play out the contest.

Only question left, was it Zeus or Thor that chose Apple as their champion?

Anything Apple names it or does with it has to have more appeal than THIS!. That ad made me take another serious look at cutting over to AMD. Couple it with those terrible MMX ads with the disco cleanroom suits. . . .

I like the name Thunderbolt. A thunderbolt is a streak of visible electricity traveling at the speed of light. It's even more descriptive than Light Peak.

Actually, very un-Apple-like in many ways.
The oddest thing to me is combining "Thunder" and "bolt." I guess this is the Norse influence over us or something. Anyway, I think in terms of bolts of lightning and claps of thunder, lightening being the electrical phenomenon occurring in bolts, and thunder being the associated sound. Referring to a "thunderbolt" is akin to believing the of noise of a gun as what is dangerous rather than the bullet speeding out of its barrel.

Not really. besides implying that its an electrical connection, Thunderbolt isn't really that descriptive either. If you want to go that route, It should be named something like PASI, the Protocol-Agnostic Serial Interface. doesn't quite roll off the tongue like 'USB' tho \

Yeah, that would kill word of mouth cause people would hear it & think people were talking about pacifiers.

How about ePCI (pronounced epsy), kind of like eSATA. To me there are just a lot of better names than thunderbolt. Even something like AMP (Apple's Mega Port or Apple Mighty Port) or SFP (Super Fast Port)...oh wait, they already have iOS so they really don't need anymore confusion with network routing devices.